Ivy is a beautiful young woman with long blonde hair who has magical powers and protects a sacred magical forest. She also happens to be a shape-shifting unicorn with the ability to heal, and who takes her responsibilities to the forest and her fellow magical beings very seriously.

Blaze Williams is a wizard and Ivy was his first and only true love. In addition he is a virgin, something unheard of for a man his age in the present day. However, as much as he loves Ivy, he has done his best to avoid temptation by staying away from her because he was taught that he would need all his power for a great task, and having sex with Ivy would drain some of that power.

On the eve of Blazeʼs fatherʼs death, he discovers the magical text, The Canticles of Al Farasakh has vanished. With this book someone could create all sorts of evil. On top of it all, Blaze discovers that his father sold the land Ivyʼs forest stands on to an unscrupulous and dangerous man. With the book missing, and knowing that he cannot alone find it, Blaze contemplates asking Ivy to help him. In the meantime, there is an intruder to Ivyʼs forest, someone who has no respect for its creatures, and Ivy finds her cousin nearly dead from having her hide skinned and her horn cut off. Desperate to heal her cousin, but finding that she cannot do it alone, Ivy begins to search for a virgin with whom she can meld her power and heal her cousin. After a few tries later with less than satisfactory results she stumbles upon the man who left her, and his power is great. Will she ask him for his help despite the danger to her heart? Will Blaze risk the temptation to be with the woman he loves even though it means he may lose the very power he needs to defeat the darkness?

Wow! She is a page-turner galore! Ms. Betts has written her best story yet with this one. I was absolutely ecstatic that for once the man got to be the virgin, instead of the woman. So many romances have the woman being the virgin, and it was so refreshing to have it be the guy for a change. The world building is incredible and makes the story so real that you feel as though the characters could step off the pages and talk to you. The story line is very original; this is not your mother’s fairytale and by the end of the book, you will find that you are very glad this is so. I really loved the solid heart-centered characters, as well as the sizzling sex. I hope that Ms. Betts has more like this one planned in the future, because she now has a fan for life!

Regina
Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance
Reviewer for Karen Find Out About New Books